Global smartphone shipments grew 37.2% last year — and the iPhone saw a 97.9% year-over-growth in shipments. While Apple saw the greatest success, Nokia’s shipments also jumped 37.3 percent and Research in Motion saw a spike of 41.2 percent.
Analyst Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company — as reported by “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/11/apple_sees_98_iphone_growth_as_microsoft_google_prepare_for_battle.html) — told clients that the smartphone market has turned into a “land grab” that’s “virtually certain” to lead to a brutal battle between Microsoft and Google.
He said Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Series won’t kill the iPhone, which exists in a class by itself, but it will be a potential “Android killer.” Windows Phone 7 Series, Wolf said, is evidence that Microsoft “finally gets it.”